I shower and use deodorant, but my body still smells after exercise. What should I do?

I shower and use deodorant every day, but I feel like my body still smells after gym class or football practice. What should I do?

When you exercise, your apocrine glands produce sweat in order to keep you cool. Unfortunately, sweat doesn’t always smell so great. Many people find they need to take an additional shower after a hard workout at the gym or sports practice. If you can’t shower right after practice, try applying a lightly scented talc such as baby powder, or wiping off excess sweat with an alcohol-based astringent, and then change in to a clean set of underwear and outer clothes.

Young Men’s Health (YMH) is produced by the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. The purpose of the website is to provide carefully researched health information to teenage boys and young men.